I have lived through many stressful times. For some, the pandemic and economic slowdown may be their first. Some feel stress constantly from just trying to survive.
Check the Christian scriptures. Jesus dealt with daily stresses, but then there was the night before he died when he was sweating blood. He could see what was ahead. That’s stress.
Or Paul having rocks thrown down at him and escaping a city in the dead of night hoisted over the city wall and running away. And other pillars of the faith like James and John and Peter. They all experienced times of great stress.
Yet, the message of them all was founded on the fruit of the spirit that included peace, joy, calm.
Living in the spirit and experiencing that fruit is often not easy. Stresses large and small eat away at our inner balance.
Even so, follow their example of periodic withdrawal to have silence and alone time with God heals. Awareness of God’s surrounding presence helps us through those times.
We must not neglect intentional time to connect. Probably more often than five minutes every morning.
Faith Venture 
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